Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Anger and Hate Poured Onto the Page

The Crow-Special Edition by James O'Barr

by 1 Comment

Have you ever lost someone you loved? I don’t mean a friend or a relative, I mean losing someone so deeply ingrained into you that when they are gone, you have no idea how you are able to function? For those of us who have, James O’Barr has taken those feelings of rage, of dis-empowerment, and allowed us some catharsis through his seminal work The Crow. For those unfamiliar with the tale from either the movie or the graphic novel, The Crow tells the story […]

Some Things Happen To The X-Men?! Really?!

X-Men Gold - Evil Empire (Volume 2) by Marc Guggenheim

by Leave a Comment

A rather thankless collection of short stories, biding their time until it gets to a more interesting section of the X-Men’s timeline. Some important things happen but nothing that is commensurate with the $18 list price. We get introduced to the new X-Cutioner but without any explanation of how he got his gear or his martial arts skill, just his beef. He successfully lays out our heroes until he doesn’t, which is par for the course. Kitty Pride is now a ninja so yay! Glad […]

Hello, Charlie!

Astonishing X-Men - Life of X (Volume 1) by Charles Soule

by Leave a Comment

Interesting and yet, overly-confusing and FULL of plot holes. This graphic novel uses a nice plot device to set up a typical gang X-fight against an overwhelming opponent but creates a number of gaping leaps in logic and reality. The Shadow King is taking out the Earth’s psychics to force his way onto this planet and, needless to say, is unsucessful (or is he?). The X-Men’s leader, omega-class psychic Charles Xavier had been murdered by former student Scott Summers (Cyclops) back during the AVX story […]

Mutants v. Inhumans – Wha’happen?

Uncanny X-Men: Superior - IVX (Volume 4) by Cullen Bunn

Extraordinary X-Men - IVX (Volume 4) by Jeff Lemire

All-New X-Men: Inevitable - IVX (Volume 4) by Dennis Hopeless

by Leave a Comment

These are some graphic novels detailing some outlying stories surrounding the main X-Men vs. Inhumans comic event from 2016(?) (see https://www.amazon.com/Inhumans-vs-X-Men/dp/1302906534). Honestly, not a lot of irreplacable information here. None of the books provide a complete story, and even taken together as a whole, provide a spotty story of the tragedy that was the destruction of New Attilan. Both All-New and Uncanny X-Men volumes contain that series’ annual (#1) and both Extraordinary and All-New X-Men volumes contain X-Men Prime #1. If I had to pick […]

Wonderful mental health discussion in super hero comic aimed at young girls

DC Super Hero Girls: Out of the Bottle by Shea Fontana (author), Marchelo DiChiara (illustrator), Agnes Garbowska (illustrator)

by Leave a Comment

For those unfamiliar with the DC Super Hero Girls franchise the concept is that many classic DC comics characters are teenagers attending Super Hero High School, focusing on the female supers.  Another neat twist is that villains aren’t villains yet, they might be morally flexible but they are still overall more good than bad.  My eleven and seven year old daughters have been fans for several years now.  They have watched the animated shows and movies, and read two of the chapter books, but only […]

Between the Oceans and the Mountains is a Wild Forest.

Gender Queer: a Memoir by Maia Kobabe

by 3 Comments

Note: I misgendered the author in the 4th paragraph. I’d love to blame autocorrect, but it was entirely my own brain defaulting to the comfort of binary pronouns. Brains like to be comfortable and I was raised in an aggressively binary culture. That makes it more imperative that I get comfortable with discomfort, try harder, and be willing to correct others and accept correction. Maia Kobabe’s graphic novel GenderQueer: A Memoir is a beautiful gift to the world, filled with pain and compassion. Maia uses […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo